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Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone

Recovery of still-soft tissue structures, including blood vessels and osteocytes, from dinosaur bone after demineralization was reported in 2005 and in subsequent publications. Despite multiple lines of evidence supporting an endogenous source, it was proposed that these structures arose from contam...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schweitzer, Mary Higby, Moyer, Alison E., Zheng, Wenxia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771714/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26926069
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150238
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author Schweitzer, Mary Higby
Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
author_facet Schweitzer, Mary Higby
Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
author_sort Schweitzer, Mary Higby
collection PubMed
description Recovery of still-soft tissue structures, including blood vessels and osteocytes, from dinosaur bone after demineralization was reported in 2005 and in subsequent publications. Despite multiple lines of evidence supporting an endogenous source, it was proposed that these structures arose from contamination from biofilm-forming organisms. To test the hypothesis that soft tissue structures result from microbial invasion of the fossil bone, we used two different biofilm-forming microorganisms to inoculate modern bone fragments from which organic components had been removed. We show fundamental morphological, chemical and textural differences between the resultant biofilm structures and those derived from dinosaur bone. The data do not support the hypothesis that biofilm-forming microorganisms are the source of these structures.
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spelling pubmed-47717142016-03-07 Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone Schweitzer, Mary Higby Moyer, Alison E. Zheng, Wenxia PLoS One Research Article Recovery of still-soft tissue structures, including blood vessels and osteocytes, from dinosaur bone after demineralization was reported in 2005 and in subsequent publications. Despite multiple lines of evidence supporting an endogenous source, it was proposed that these structures arose from contamination from biofilm-forming organisms. To test the hypothesis that soft tissue structures result from microbial invasion of the fossil bone, we used two different biofilm-forming microorganisms to inoculate modern bone fragments from which organic components had been removed. We show fundamental morphological, chemical and textural differences between the resultant biofilm structures and those derived from dinosaur bone. The data do not support the hypothesis that biofilm-forming microorganisms are the source of these structures. Public Library of Science 2016-02-29 /pmc/articles/PMC4771714/ /pubmed/26926069 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150238 Text en © 2016 Schweitzer et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Schweitzer, Mary Higby
Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title_full Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title_fullStr Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title_full_unstemmed Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title_short Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone
title_sort testing the hypothesis of biofilm as a source for soft tissue and cell-like structures preserved in dinosaur bone
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771714/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26926069
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150238
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